Empyrean Capital Partners LP Purchases Shares of 25,028,407 Optimum Communications, Inc. $OPTU

Empyrean Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in Optimum Communications, Inc. (NYSE:OPTU) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 25,028,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,297,000. Optimum Communications makes up approximately 1.4% of Empyrean Capital Partners LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Empyrean Capital Partners LP owned approximately 0.05% of Optimum Communications as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Optimum Communications during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Optimum Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Morningstar Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Optimum Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Optimum Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Xponance LLC purchased a new position in Optimum Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.85% of the company’s stock.

Optimum Communications Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of Optimum Communications stock opened at $1.25 on Thursday. Optimum Communications, Inc. has a 12-month low of $0.58 and a 12-month high of $2.98. The company has a market cap of $596.68 million, a P/E ratio of -0.13 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.47.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Michael Olsen sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.59, for a total value of $31,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 1,199,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,907,651.79. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 60,000 shares of company stock worth $80,000 in the last 90 days. 43.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on OPTU. Evercore set a $1.25 price objective on Optimum Communications in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Optimum Communications from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Optimum Communications from $2.00 to $1.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $1.00 target price on Optimum Communications in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Optimum Communications from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $0.95.

Optimum Communications Profile

Altice USA, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband communications and video services in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It offers broadband, video, telephony, and mobile services to approximately five million residential and business customers. The company’s video services include delivery of broadcast stations and cable networks; over the top services; video-on-demand, high-definition channels, digital video recorder, and pay-per-view services; and platforms for video programming through mobile applications.